


Seeing Stars

by Vanui



Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-24
Updated: 2018-09-24
Packaged: 2019-07-16 15:00:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16088495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vanui/pseuds/Vanui
Summary: Hina decides to help out at Tsugumi's cafe.





	Seeing Stars

**Author's Note:**

> dedicated to you cursed members of my discord server and also to mom for proofreading this thanks, also thanks to the JP artist who drew butler Hina but has since locked their account so I can't share

"I'm really sorry about this," Tsugumi says, her brows furrowed so apologetically that Hina can't help but giggle at the sight. The sound makes Tsugumi blink so rapidly in confusion that Hina's giggles become full blown laughter. 

"Don't worry about it," Hina tells her and smiles once the laughter passes. Waving another apology off, Hina places a hand on Tsugumi's head, much to Tsugumi's surprise, and fondly ruffles her soft brown hair. "I'm doing it because it sounds like fun!"

Tsugumi's eyebrows are still furrowed, but she doesn't protest again. Gradually her expression relaxes as Hina keeps petting her. "Thank you, Hina-senpai," she ends up replying instead, and a small smile crosses her lips as she reaches up and removes Hina's hand from her hair. Gripping said hand a little firmly, she looks up and meets Hina's gaze with a spark in her eyes.

That spark excites Hina in a way that makes her feel like she can jump and it'd be enough to reach the stars.

Hina loves it when Tsugumi gets all fired up like that. It's so...

So...

So...?

Hina's never been good with understanding her own feelings, but in this case she's honestly more lost than usual. She wonders a little if this is what Onee-chan feels when she's around their kouhai and if that's why Onee-chan spends so much time with her. It would make sense, she thinks, because she kind of doesn't want Tsugumi to look away from her for even a second.

That spark in her eyes... She feels like she could just stand there staring forever.

Then Tsugumi says, "Let's do our best today!", and the words help Hina remember that she can't really spend the rest of the day just standing there and looking into her eyes, as much as she wants to otherwise.

"Yeah!" she cheers back, right before somebody else walks into the room and reminds her, again, that she's not there to stare at Tsugumi. 

The new arrival is Tsugumi's mother with a bundle of clothes in her arms and a warm smile on her face, looking every bit as excited as her daughter in that moment. Neither Hina nor Sayo look anything like their mother, so Hina's constantly surprised every time she sees how much Tsugumi resembles hers. 

"Mom!" Tsugumi greets, turning her gaze away to face her mother. 

"Tsugumi," her mother greets back. She comes up next to them and turns her attention to Hina with a small nod of her head. "I'm sorry for bothering you on one of your days off, but thank you so much for agreeing to help, Hina-chan," she says gratefully, echoing her daughter's earlier words. "I don't know what we would have done if you weren't here."

Tsugumi nods enthusiastically along to her mother's words. "Really! Thank you so much," she adds.

Hina laughs and tilts her head. "Eve-chan could have asked management to switch photoshoot days if I said no," she says, not really understanding why they're so grateful that she's covering for her fellow bandmate. Plus she's really only here to be around Tsugumi so it's not like she's going out of her way.

There's something nice about Tsugumi looking directly at her and thanking her though. Makes her feel like...

Like...

Like...?

"Still, we appreciate it," Tsugumi's mother insists. Perhaps sensing Hina's confusion though, she thankfully drops the subject and turns to the clothes in her arms, and her eyes sparkle almost exactly the way Tsugumi's did a second before. "Since this was such short notice I didn't get to search earlier, but I just took a look through our storage room and I'm sorry to say that we don't have any extra uniforms."

Out of the corner of her eyes, Hina notices Tsugumi's eyebrows scrunch together after they all hear that. Tsugumi opens her mouth as if to say something then, but her mother is faster and slaps a hand over her daughter's mouth and muffles her next words.

Hina tilts her head to the side, confused more than ever now. 

Keeping her hand there even as Tsugumi continues to protest and ignoring Hina's questioning gaze, Tsugumi's mother extends her free arm and offers the clothes she brought in. "I did find these however!" she explains over Tsugumi's muffled voice. 

Hina grabs the bundle curiously, lifting it up and blinking a few times as she tries to figure out a way to sort the clothes without dropping them all. After a second of consideration, she manages to drape it all on one arm neatly before taking a closer look. 

Humming to herself, she begins to shuffle the clothes from one arm to the other and observes each item as it's moved. The first piece of clothing she inspects is a pair of black dress pants, while the second is a matching black vest and the third a white dress shirt. There's nothing elaborate about any of the pieces, but all of them look freshly ironed with not a single wrinkle to show, and the material feels close to silk. 

Kind of expensive, but if Tsugumi's mother is letting her wear it then it's probably not a big deal.

The whole thing is pretty different from what she usually wears and what management makes her wear for work, but... "Huh. I kind of like these," she ends up deciding with a grin. "I've never worn a butler outfit before. Seems fun!"

Tsugumi's mother clasps her hands together excitedly, freeing Tsugumi from her silence at the same time and leaving her gasping for air. 

"Wonderful! I'll go get the dress shoes then! Tsugumi, come with me!" 

Tsugumi barely has any time to catch her breath before her mother is grabbing her by the arm and dragging her out the room.

"Wait, Mom, what-" Tsugumi doesn't even pull at her mother's grip and simply stumbles along, too dazed to protest properly. Her eyes are darting between Hina and the clothes in her arms.

"Hina-chan, go ahead and change, we'll be right back~!" Tsugumi's mother sings. She seems fired up for some reason, but maybe she really likes shoes or something. Hina sometimes overhears the girls at school get excited over shoes anyways.

Waving, Hina beams back an "Okay!" and watches as mother and daughter move past the doorway and disappear into the back of the cafe that leads into their house. The silence afterwards almost feels too sudden, but maybe that's just because she sort of misses Tsugumi already. 

She shakes her head and that thought off. Shuffling around the room a little, she finds an empty chair, places the clothes onto it and gives them another look over.

"A butler huh?" she ponders to herself as she starts to strip. Then she pauses for a second. "Doesn't Tsugu-chan usually just wear an apron though?"

Scratching her head, she finishes taking everything off, folds her own clothes up and puts them on a different chair. "Mmm..."

No point in thinking about it too much. She pulls the pants on, wiggles around in them and immediately notices that she has no belt to stop that them from sliding down. She'll have to ask Tsugumi's mother about that.

Once she tugs the last bit of sleeve over her arms, finishes adjusting the buttons and slips the vest over her shoulders, she checks herself over in her phone's camera app and winks for a photo after she makes sure her hair's not a mess. Onee-chan will definitely be surprised when she sees this, Hina thinks with a giggle. 

Mid-shoot, however, she hears footsteps and then a hesitant "Hina... senpai...?" from over her shoulder, and stops. Turning around, Hina excitedly smiles towards what she thinks will be Tsugumi returning from whatever thing her mother just made her do and nearly drops her phone when she sees what's waiting at the doorway instead. 

It's one thing to know that looking at Tsugumi makes her feel strange, but it's another to feel her heart jump up her throat and pound like she's sprinting down a track at full speed and soaring through the air. 

All from the image of Tsugumi dressed in something different than usual.

There's not even that much of a difference between an apron and a maid outfit in the first place, but for some reason the sight of Tsugumi in a maid outfit stops Hina from a typical cheerful greeting. Instead, she can feel her mouth dropping open uselessly as she tries to get a grip on her racing heartbeat. 

Complete with white frilly apron and frilly headdress, the particular design of her maid outfit mimics something more modest than anything Hina's had to wear for shoots and television programs. The soothing shade of black is definitely a contrast to the bright teal outfits management usually throws her into. But even without a short skirt and a bust window, Tsugumi looks...

"Hina... senpai? Does it... really look that bad?" Tsugumi speaks up when Hina still gives no response. The blushing girl pulls nervously at the hem of her skirt and pinches the fabric between her fingers, her eyebrows scrunched together and her lips pulled into a slight frown, and Hina's eyes catch on the space between her skirt and black stockings. 

"No!" Hina blurts, stepping forward unconsciously. "You look super cute!" she frantically throws out, and she hopes it's just in her imagination that her voice sounds higher pitched than normal.

Tsugumi's reaction is to just blink rapidly back at her once, twice then three times before her face blooms into a shade of red bordering close to purple.

That's when Hina realizes the room feels chillier than before, and she looks down to see that the loose slacks have fallen down to her ankles. 

"Oh..." she comments. "Whoops!"

Tsugumi makes a noise that resembles some sort of strangled squeaking, before she turns around and runs out of the room shouting over her shoulder, "I-I'll be r-right back so, um, please put those back on!"

Before the flustered girl gets too far away though, Hina thinks she hears Tsugumi mumble, "Teal cats...", and when Hina looks down at herself... Yep, she's sure wearing underwear with teal cats patterned all over it. 

Tsugumi probably really didn't want to see that, Hina guesses, so when Tsugumi returns with her face still a pink hue, Hina tries to apologize, "Sorry about that!" with a sheepish laugh and a hand rubbing the back of her neck. She hopes she's not offended her in any way, because Hina always seems to be really good at doing that to people. Not that she understands why, but she's used to it by now.

But her kouhai doesn't look really upset, though she doesn't really look... happy either. Shaking her head, Tsugumi avoids her gaze and walks closer, her skirt swishing with the movement. She clears her throat and hesitantly brings her eyes forward, then quietly mumblers, "There's nothing to be sorry for. I know it was an accident..." 

Hina sees that even the tips of Tsugumi's ears are kind of red. Huh. That's kinda cute.

...Cute?

"So, um, here..." Tsugumi holds out her arm, and Hina looks at the leather strip in her hands. "I went and found a belt for you. So it doesn't... happen again..."

"Oh. Thanks!" Hina beams back at her and gratefully reaches to take the belt. But when her fingers accidentally brush against Tsugumi's in the process, she nearly drops the belt at the sensation of warmth that spreads across her hand. She almost feels like she got burned, but not in a painful way, and the whole thing is so confusing that she's having a hard time thinking straight. 

...What is happening to her? Maybe she's sick, but she's never read anything about a sickness that goes quite like this.

It doesn't seem like Tsugumi was affected either if her innocent blinking is anything to go by.

No matter how hard she thinks about it an answer won't come to mind, so instead Hina bites her lip and tries to focus on looping the belt around her pants. When she finishes she glances up and notices that Tsugumi is staring at her with a strange expression, all hints of blushing gone, almost like she's thinking pretty hard about something. Hina waves a hand in front of her face but there's no response. "Tsugu-chan?" she tries next with her voice.

That sends Tsugumi jumping slightly into the air. "S-Sorry! I just... thought of something right now," she timidly explains, tapping her index fingers together nervously. 

That's cute too, Hina observes, then cocks her head to the side. "Something?"

Tsugumi doesn't say anything for a moment, and Hina stands there resisting the urge to stare at her maid outfit. She's so cute. Really, really cute. Hina can't stop that word from circling inside her head. If her manager was here, they'd probably be trying to recruit Tsugumi into their agency and shoving her into more cute outfits.

Eventually, Tsugumi hesitantly points out, "...Hina-senpai's hair is short but, it might get in the way tied like that, especially when you're bending over to place things down on a table."

"Oh?" Hina taps her chin and thinks about it for a second. She did think about how her hair should've been okay for not getting into the food, but she's never considered that angle. "Hmm, you're probably right," she concedes, then grins at Tsugumi. "How should I tie it then?"

"Maybe... a ponytail? A ponytail should be fine I think," Tsugumi smiles back, her shoulders relaxing. 

Hina loves the way Tsugumi's eyes soften up when she smiles like that.

Wait.

...Loves?

Why did she...

"Okay, a ponytail then," Hina agrees with a nod before she can distract herself again. She pulls at the yellow ribbons that keep her braids together and takes them off, throwing them into her pockets, then runs her hands through her hair and straightens tangled strands after. Still not feeling quite right, she shakes her head a few times to let her hair fly loose. There, much better. 

She starts gathering her hair behind her ears and above her nape when she notices that she doesn't have anything to keep the ponytail together. Well, she could probably try her yellow ribbons but they were most likely too small to work, and there's nothing else in her pockets so... 

Hina opens her mouth with a "Tsu-" but cuts herself off when she notices Tsugumi is blushing... again?

Not only is Tsugumi red in the face, but she's also staring at her with a dazed expression that's the exact opposite of the concentrated gaze from before, almost like she's been standing in the sun too long and is starting to get heat stroke.

Hina wonders a little bit if they should both see a doctor after this, or maybe even skip work entirely and go straight to the hospital right then and there.

"...Tsugu-chan?" she tries again. "Do you have a hair tie?"

Tsugumi blinks a few times like she's trying to get something out of her eyes and stiffens once she realizes that Hina's caught her staring. "...Sorry! Um, oh, right, a hair tie, um..." 

Reaching into her pockets ― wait, the maid outfit has pockets? Hina stares. Yeah, those are pockets ― Tsugumi digs around for a few moments and pulls out a handful of black ribbons. After a moment of deliberation, she picks one out of the pile and holds it out for Hina to take.

Taking care not to brush against Tsugumi's hand another time, Hina grasps the end of the ribbon and watches it slide through Tsugumi's fingers as she pulls the thin material away. Then she brings it up to where her other hand still waits with her hair bundled up and ties everything into a neat knot without further fanfare.

"There!" She holds her hands up in a peace sign and beams at Tsugumi. "Now am I ready?" she finishes with a teasing tone, but to her surprise, Tsugumi's lips are pulled into a slight frown.

"Hmm..." Tsugumi's eyebrows point downward, creating a dimple in the middle of her forehead. 

Hina's absent minded focus on Tsugumi's eyebrows is only broken when she feels a slight tug on the collar of her shirt, and it's only then that she notices Tsugumi's stepped closer and has a grip on the dress shirt. She can feel the heat of her fingers through the rather thin material, and suddenly she can't remember how to breathe.

Her heart's starting to run a marathon again. Maybe she might fall over and die right at this very moment. But that would be awful, because then she'd have to stop looking at Tsugumi, Tsugumi whose eyes have that spark in them again. 

Hina's enthralled. But she's also curious as to what Tsugumi is exactly doing, so she looks down and realizes that Tsugumi's buttoned up the top most button of the shirt and flipped the collar up. 

Before she can question anything, her throat clogs up at Tsugumi does next.

With a single black ribbon in hand Tsugumi steps even closer, and her arms go over Hina's shoulders, their warmth sliding through both shirt and vest, and snake around her neck. The white frills of her headdress tickle Hina's chin, but she doesn't mind, not when she can catch the calming scent of whatever shampoo Tsugumi uses wafting through the air as she struggles to breathe. It's sweet. Relaxing. Or at least, it should be.

So why is her heart thundering in her ears and her body stiffening up?

The moment doesn't last long enough for Hina to solve any of the questions swimming through her mind as Tsugumi finishes looping the ribbon around her neck and pulls away. She fiddles around with the ribbon a second longer to finish tying it into a bow and, seemingly satisfied, moves to pull away but—

But Hina grabs her before she can move even further away and yanks her closer, so close that their noses could touch if she leaned forward slightly.

She doesn't realize she's done it until Tsugumi's blinking up at her, and then they're both flushing, Hina can feel it up to her ears, can see the red spread from Tsugumi's face all the way back to her ears too and her eyes swing down to Tsugumi's trembling lips—

Hina swings her eyes back up and lets go as if burned. "S-Sorry!" she apologizes with a shaky laugh, stepping away and waving her hands around frantically, unsure of what to do with them in that moment. "I just..."

Just what? Hina doesn't have an explanation for herself, nevermind one that'll make sense to Tsugumi. 

But Tsugumi simply stands there staring back at her, not questioning anything. Just freezes in place, her chest rising and falling, her mouth parted slightly as she breathes, her hands floating where she had placed them to tie the ribbon.

Hina feels like she's done something bad. Something that, if she tells Onee-chan about, she'll definitely get a long lecture and a harsh scolding for, and while that's a usual occurrence Hina's sure that once her Onee-chan hears that Tsugumi's involved, she's going to get seriously mad. But more than that, if she's hurt Tsugumi in any way, then Hina herself feels terrible and would gladly undertake such a punishment if it meant that Tsugumi would forgive her.

But for even as little as Hina understands, she knows that that won't do anything in this situation. 

"Tsugu-chan..." She searches for words, but finds none. They keep standing there, staring at each other, until slowly, gradually, Tsugumi's arms lower and fall into the folds of her skirt. Then Tsugumi speaks and says nothing that Hina expects to hear.

"Hina-senpai, you're really amazing..." Tsugumi admits, almost like she's talking to herself.

The words come quietly, so quietly that Hina's not sure if she hallucinated them in her panic or if she's so sick with something that she's going crazy. That's why all that escapes her mouth is a stunned, "Huh?"

"You look good no matter what you're wearing. Like a real idol..." Tsugumi murmurs, and Hina's still just completely lost as to what is happening. 

"But..." Hina feels her eyebrows scrunch together. "I am a real idol? It's my job to look good right?"

Tsugumi's lips pull into a pout. "That's true but... that's not what I meant!" she nearly shouts, and the sound is so unexpected that Hina actually jumps a little. But she's not scared. No she's...

Hina's exhilarated. Tsugumi's eyes are sparkling, burning even, like a shooting star flying across the night sky, and Hina's not sure if she can ever look away. She's beautiful, Hina realizes. Not just cute. Sparkling and shining like a comforting beacon in the night. 

Before she can help herself, Hina blurts out, "Tsugu-chan looks good too!"

And now it's Tsugumi's turn to blink and let a confused "Huh?" escape from her lips. 

There are so many other things she wants to say, but what ends up ejecting from her mouth is, "The maid outfit really suits you!" And so Hina gives her own admission, and she watches as more confusion spreads across Tsugumi's face. 

Tsugumi blinks back at her.

"...Really?" Tsugumi hesitantly follows up. She asks the question like she's afraid of hearing the answer herself.

But Hina doesn't understand why she asks at all. Did Tsugumi not hear her the first time? "Really!" she tells her again and makes sure to put in more energy into her voice than before. That seems to work too, if the growing smile on Tsugumi's face is any indication. Hina feels her heart pounding again at the sight.

"...Hina-senpai," Tsugumi calls out and steps closer. Closer. Closer until they are just as close as before Hina suddenly grabbed her and started this whole situation. "Did... Did you really mean what you said earlier?" Her gaze is so intense that Hina can feel herself begin to sweat. 

"...What I said earlier?" Hina repeats dumbly back. She said a lot of things earlier. Is there something else she needs to apologize for?

"Yes. When you said I... I looked... c-cute," Tsugumi explains with a slight flush of color dancing across her cheeks, but she doesn't look away.

Hina tilts her head to the side, partially out of habit, partially because Tsugumi is so close that Hina's not sure her heart can handle such little distance between them. "Y-Yeah! Why wouldn't I?" she stammers out. 

"That's... true. Hina-senpai's not the type of person who'd say something she didn't mean." Tsugumi's staring thoughtfully at her now, one finger tapping against her chin.

Hina really doesn't understand. Is... Tsugumi talking to herself? Or to her? What is she supposed to say to that?

"I guess? Chisato-chan always tells me to think before I speak and gets mad at me though..." Hina scratches at her cheek nervously, then frowns. "You're not mad at me, are you Tsugu-chan?"

"No," Tsugumi denies with a firm shake of her head. There's a soft sort of smile on her lips now, and the glow of her cheeks have faded to a soft hue of color. 

"Oh, that's a relief," Hina laughs, all tension seeping out from her shoulders. Seeing Tsugumi's smile has slightly reassured her that everything is fine, that maybe Hina actually didn't do something horribly bad and they're still friends. 

So absorbed in the feeling of relief was Hina, however, that she barely catches Tsugumi's quiet giggle filling the air between them before something soft and warm presses against her cheek and vanishes a second later. The scent of Tsugumi's shampoo follows, wafting along her nose and trailing after the footsteps that rush past Hina's shoulders.

Hina blinks. She reaches up and hesitantly presses her hand against where she'd felt the sensation, and blinks.

"Come on, Hina-senpai! We've still got a full day's work ahead of us," Tsugumi calls from the doorway, and Hina wonders if she's just imagined everything that's happened.

She's definitely going to the hospital today after she finishes her shift anyways.

Shaking her head, she drops her hand, turns to where Tsugumi is waiting and can't help but return the smile that's waiting for her there.


End file.
